usability

I am sitting here working on a presentation. Then I decided to share an example of how I just worked with one single slide. Here we go: In my presentation I am going to talk about four ways to determine the size and potential influence of a blog. This is the first slide I made as an introduction to that part of the presentation:

This is pretty clear, but boring. I needed an illustration. So, I grab my digital camera, find a yardstick and snap a picture. Because I had decided to post an article on this I timed the whole process. Six minutes. From the point where I decided to make an illustration to the image was in the presentation. Yes, it’s the most obvious illustration of them all, but it works. And now this image is in my repository for later use as well. And, because this blog is creative commons licensed it is available for non commercial use here. If I for some lucky reason hit someone that would like to use it commercially you can buy a full resolution version for $25,- here.

Okay, back to the presentation.

But this is still not a very good slide. I am going to tell my audience that I will show them four ways to determine the size and importance of a blog. Why print it on my slide? This can be made simpler…

Better, but the illustration practically screams “size” alone. Maybe I should write “influence” instead? Or maybe remove the text completely?

I’ll have to think that one over…

And what are these four tools to determine the size and potential influence of a blog? Well, that will have to be my next article here…

After travelling between Oslo and Stockholm several times I started making note of an interesting example of good and bad usability.

When you arrive at the platform where you wait for the airport express train in Oslo you meet the following board:

It clearly states that the next train will leave at 17:45

And, I ask you: is this really the information you want?

If you say “yes, of course I want to know when the train leaves when I am at the station“. Think again.

I don’t think so. This is what you do:
You look at the sign:
“Okay, the train leaves at 17:45…”

Then you find the nearest watch:
“…right, it’s now 17:39..”

Then you do some calculations:
“…let me see.. the train will leave in 6 minutes… okay, I have time for a coffee!”

Is this good usability design? Is this following basic rules like “give the user the right information”, “make it fast and simple for the user to find the answer”?

So, what you want to know when you are at the station is how many minutes you have before the train leaves.

When you plan your trip the day before is something else. At that point you want to know at what time the different trains leave. But, at the station you want to know how many minutes will I have to wait?

An interface that consist of one single line of information and they got it wrong. Usability design is hard.

So, arriving at Stockholm Airport Arlanda I go for the Airport Express train, and meet this sign: